Last month, Porsche took over Indianapolis combining the artistic spectacle that is Luftgekühlt with Porsches of all types taking on the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The brainchild of Patrick Long and Howie Idelson, Luftgekühlt brings together a diverse selection of air-cooled Porsches to a unique location, carefully arranged and staged by the eye of Jeff Zwart.
This year, Luftgekühlt was held in the Bottleworks district of Indianapolis, Indiana. At the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Carrollton Avenue was the building that housed the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Indianapolis since 1920. In 1949, an expansion to the plant fashioned in art-deco style by local architectural firm, Rubush and Hunter, made it the largest Coca-Cola bottling plant in the world. On September 10th, it was inundated with Porsches ranging from historic motorsport cars to outlaws to a highly original barn find 356. At center stage was the Revs Institute’s 1951 356SL Gmünd Coupe, standing at the corner right in front of the entrance to the opulently styled, art-deco Bottleworks Hotel. Down Carrollton Avenue 356s, 914s and 911s of all varieties flanked the edges of the brick roadway and led to Bob Akin’s 962 and Fabcar 935/84, both in Coca-Cola livery and centered below the “Coca-Cola Bottling Co” sign on the side of the former plant. On the opposite side of Carrollton Avenue, in the nooks and crannies of the Jungclaus Mill one could find a single-seater RSK tucked in an alleyway between the mill buildings, Porsche Werks 917-005 once piloted by Jo Siffert, The Revs Institute 908/02 chassis 016 at center stage inside one of the mills and surrounded by long-hood 911s, and 550-0142 at Chopard display. The Ingram Collection 904-078 was placed at the entrance of the mill, and the Ingram Collection 964 Carrera RS 3.8 placed at the far edge of the mill against a red steel wall that nearly matched its Guards Red paint.
While static Porsches were the center of attention in the Bottleworks district, the Sportscar Together Festival held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway gave spectators a chance to experience the whole gamut of the Porsche brand. Throughout the infield of the historic track, there was something for each attendee to see or do between heats on the track. The Cayenne driving experience demonstrated how rugged and capable the SUV actually is, while a short distance away Cayman GTSs with Porsche’s driving instructors tore around the autocross course giving patrons a firsthand glimpse of the immense road-handling capabilities of the Cayman at the limits. Trackside, the PCA’s car corral held a diverse grouping of models. The main event however happened on the modified 2.43 mile long Indycar circuit all weekend long- a field of the new 992 Cup cars competed in the US Carrera Cup, 991 Cup cars and Cayman GT4s competed in the Sprint Cup Challenge, and a PCA racing class featured a wide array of Porsche race cars and a specific category for Air-Cooled only cars.
Cam was consistently at the front of the pack in the Time Attack division, and our race team consisting of Simon Briggs, James Yocum, and Brandon Shaheen did a great job keeping both the 935/19 and GT4 Clubsport dialed in throughout the weekend. Every session was a close battle between Cam and Karl Leinsing in his GT2 RS Clubsport for the top spot. Karl and Cam took to the podium right after the conclusion of the Super Lap battle, and Porsche Motorsports North America CEO Volker Holzmeyer took the place of Mike Levitas who finished in third.
The moment the trophy ceremony was over, Cam and Karl took the rare opportunity to drench the new CEO in the champagne shower before he was able to get the bottle in his hands but was quick to return the favor for the first and second-place finishers.
